Station 2-14: Chapter Eleven
Ley's first lesson
Previous Chapter - Station 2-14
Chapter Eleven: Ley
Ley trails behind Tessa as they worm their way through the penthouse. It’s too early for anyone to be up but she hadn’t been given much of a choice. She woke to Tessa shaking her and shoving a fresh pair of clothes into her arms before she was told:
Get dressed. Time to train.
She’ll never get over how big the penthouse is. She could reach two walls from most points of her home but in Pangere’s apartment, Ley wasn’t sure that she could find her way out without directions. She still had no idea where Pangere slept or where the kitchens were. Everything just appeared when they wanted it and was cleared away without a chance to follow.
They finally arrive at Voss’ room and Tessa storms inside, shaking him awake without a seconds hesitation.
‘Arghh - what the hell?’
‘Get up,’ says Tessa. ‘Time to train.’
‘I don’t need training,’ he says as he tries to pull the covers out of her grip and over his head.
‘Nope, we’re a team - get up.’
‘Go get Avery and come back then.’
‘Not happening. Get up.’ He grabs the clock next to him and checks the time: 4.30 am.
‘Nobody trains this early,’ he argues and then spies Ley at the door.
‘Don’t look at me! She woke me up first.’
They descend a foreign staircase two levels before they come out into the gym to train. Most of the floor is covered in six inches of sand and the walls are lined with various weapons that Ley recognises from the Games.
‘What's with the sand?’
‘I had Pangere make it mimic the stadium. Everything that you see in this room will be on the Stadium floor. You've seen the Stadium, right?’
‘Not in person.’
‘Well imagine this but bigger and with eighty thousand people in the stands.’ Voss wanders over to the corner of the room in search of coffee in the small kitchenette as if the sand-covered floor and small arsenal lining the walls are normal.
‘Well,’ says Voss pouring himself a cup. ‘The good news about being the first loser is, your next match is two weeks away.’
‘Against who?’ Says Ley.
‘Don’t know - whoever loses next. You're in the wrong bracket, kiddo. But - the even gooder news is: Ellis is definitely the best one and you probably won’t have to worry about him again until finals.’
‘And what's the bad news?’
‘Everyone keeps replaying that video of you falling on your ass.’ Voss turns on the screen next to him showing the live newsfeed of the Games where Ley falls over the boundary line in slow motion. Even without the sound, it’s painful to watch. ‘Don’t worry, there’s another match today and then they’ll have more to talk about. Soon this’ll be a distant media memory.’
‘Awesome,’ says Ley, but even her sarcasm can’t hide her disappointment.
‘Ready to start?’ Calls Tessa, Ley drags herself from the screen to meet her in the centre of the room, her feet sinking into the sand as she settles in front of her. ‘Good. We’re going to start with something simple and pretend we’re in a real match.’ A light shines down onto the floor, creating a small ring around them just like in the stadium.
‘Okay.’
‘So, Voss will say go and then you try to win.’
‘Got it.’
‘Great - okay, Voss? When you’re ready.’ Voss taps his spoon against the rim of his cup and Ley springs into action. Before she has a chance to move, Ley sends her power straight towards Tessa and she flies off her feet, landing amongst the sand.
She smirks.
Tessa may not be Ellis but she feels a lot better knowing that she can win just as easily. Now she just has to do that again in the real thing. Voss’ voice booms across the room:
‘Disqualified!’
‘What - why?’ Says Ley, making Tessa laugh from the floor.
‘You remember the rules right?’ She says, slowly getting to her feet. ‘Voss?’
‘The three rules of the Games,’ says Voss. ‘Rule number one: contestants cannot push opponents with their minds. Rule number two: contestants will not burn or blind opponents. And rule number three: contestants will win through knockout or if their opponent crosses the boundary line.’
‘Whatever,’ says Ley. ‘In your semi's I remember you used TK and pushed Cormic across the bloody stadium.’
‘No, I threw a rock at him so hard that he flew across the stadium. There's a difference.’
‘Right, but that whole fire, blinding thing. I saw you blind your opponent - what's her name? Brit?’
‘Yeah, that’s sort of why that third rule exists. But that’s just it right, I won my first fight with sand. That girl was at least twice my size and I defeated her with sand - get it?’
‘Get what?’
Tessa groans. She’s going to have to start with the basics. ‘Okay, so, smaller things are always harder to protect yourself against and often harder to control.’ Using TK, Tessa picks up a single grain of sand and holds it suspended in the air. ‘Hold this.’ Ley rolls her eyes but does what she’s told, hoping that Tessa’s lesson will start to make sense soon. As Tessa lets go of the sand, Ley catches it and keeps it afloat.
‘Okay,’ says Tessa. ‘Now don't drop that grain - got it?’
‘Yyyep.’ Tessa throws a wall of sand at her. It’s too quick for her to stop and Ley can’t help but throw her arms up and shield herself. The sand settles once more and Ley is no longer holding the grain in the air.
‘You lose again.’ Ley brushes sand out of her hair as Tessa picks up some more herself and begins to make pictures with it, swirling it in the air and making it move like water.
‘Pushing someone with your mind is easy but often relies on the element of surprise. It’s something that can be easily stopped. But by moving something else, you can overcome almost anything.’ Tessa adds more sand to her pictures to create a tiger pouncing on a bird.
‘It's just a matter of imagination,’ she continues as she makes the sand form a waterfall. ‘You can create whatever shape you want, at whatever speed you want.’ Tessa makes the sand fall faster, before she makes a single grain stop and forces the rest to part around it. ‘But always remember that even the smallest thing can change everything.’
‘How does this help me win?’ Voss snorts and the sand falls to the ground like a sigh. ‘Just tell me what to do in a fight. Show me that knot thing you did.’
‘You have to earn that but let's try something else. You try and get me off my feet and I'll try and get you off yours.’ Ley perks up, this is what she wanted; a real fight.
‘Ready?’ Says Tessa. Ley spies a sparring stick at the far wall and sends it flying towards her, taking hold.
‘Ready,’ says Ley. Tessa nods but makes no movement to arm herself, adjusting her feet only slightly when Ley raises her weapon.
‘Ding, ding, ding,’ drawls Voss and the match begins again. Ley waits for Tessa to move but she does nothing. She knows that she shouldn’t attack first. That Tessa never goes first. But she’s itching to do something, to show her strength. She sees the pile of weights in the corner and sends one flying towards Tessa. Tessa stops it without taking her eyes from Ley. Then, with a flick of her wrist, Tessa makes the sand whirl into a storm surrounding Ley where she stands.
The storm reaches the roof, blocking the light from the other side so she can’t see through the wall of sand around her. She frantically swings her stick at the moving grains and for a moment the sand parts but quickly reforms.
She tries again; moving some more of the sand to try and create a gap in the wall and catch a glimpse of her opponent. But the moment she creates a break, more sand quickly falls to fill its place.
She simply can’t grab hold of it fast enough.
Ley strikes the sand again and again but can’t gain any ground. Then a hand snaps through the wall and grabs hold of her staff. Before she can stop it, she’s being pulled through the storm to the other side.
Ley falls to the ground as Tessa lets the sand drop around her and stands over Ley with a grin.
‘Again,’ she says, pulling Ley to her feet once more.
‘Stop focusing on what’s in front of you,’ says Voss, as he finishes another round of coffee. ‘Try something else.’
Tessa steps away from Ley and the sand whirls around her. Ley can feel her anger rising, almost buzzing inside of her trying to break free. The floor beneath her feet begins to rumble and she has to force herself to calm down. She can’t move the floor again; couldn’t risk wasting a day or more trying to recover.
She takes a steady breath.
Try something else.
But what else is there? The sand is surrounding her, she has to move it. But Tessa has her grips on each grain and with the pace of the movement, she can’t get shake her hold.
Try something else.
There’s only sand and weapons in the room and she wasn’t going to try and hurt Tessa just to prove a point. Then again, maybe she didn’t have to.
She kneels down, trying to draw her attention away from the whirlwind around her and focuses on the weapons that are just out of her reach. She’s never tried to move something that she couldn’t see before. She thought that she needed to focus on the object to manipulate it, to connect with it in some way. But as she imagines the weapons lining the walls moving she begins to hear them rattle in place.
She focuses more intently and the rattling becomes shaking and she imagines them trying to break free of the wall, the sound building like the roar of the audience when they scream her name.
She can’t see Tessa but she can imagine her on the other side, watching them. Realising that she can’t hold the sand and stop them from striking her.
All at once, she sends the weapons flying at Tessa. She knows that she’s not going to hit her but Tessa doesn’t. As the arsenal comes flying towards her, it forces her to drop her focus.
Ley lets go of her hold just as Tessa lets her sandstorm fall. Then she closes the distance between them and sweeps her legs from under her. Tessa falls to the ground and Ley stands over her with a smile.
‘Again.’
